The title of this book asks a simple question, to which, one suspects, the author will be unable to provide a definitive answer. Nonetheless, he makes notable progress in what is an engaging and, in many respects, excellent study. The derivation of the term "lollard"- -a hostile appellation applied to late medieval English dissenters from the Catholic church who were associated with the heretical doctrines of the Oxford theologian John Wyclif--is still a matter of some controversy, but this is not the subject addressed here. Instead, as befits a theology scholar, Hornbeck seeks to define what a lollard is in theological terms by assessing the coherency of the set of beliefs expressed by these dissenters (his preferred term throughout), who proliferated from roughly 1381 to 1528, and are today known variously as "Wycliffites" or "lollards".
His method of assessment is to unpick carefully the various strands of doctrine surrounding five topics--predestination, transubstantiation, lay marriage and clerical celibacy, the priesthood, and the papacy. Anne Hudson employed a similarly topical approach to the subject of lollard beliefs in The Premature Reformation (1988), and Hornbeck has accordingly chosen his five clusters of theological ideas because they appear with some frequency in the extant sources, and because neither Hudson nor anyone else has exhaustively studied them. Like Hudson, he has consulted the writings of John Wyclif, texts produced by his disciples, anti-Wycliffite arguments and expressions of contemporary orthodox views on these subjects. Where he differs mainly is in a more comprehensive use of the episcopal trial records of some 659 heretical suspects (with those discussed in the text listed in an appendix), ardently defending their value as sources for the genuine expression of heretical opinions in his preface. That this investigation "frequently turned up results at variance with Hudson's portrait of a largely coherent body of doctrines" (xi) forms part of its rationale.
The preface is where Hornbeck also lays out his frame of reference, reviewing the state of the field of lollard studies and making a case that the study of doctrine has not kept pace with other developments since the great revival of interest in the 1970s. It lags behind the editing of lollard texts, analyses of Wyclif's thought, and microhistorical studies of Wyclif's followers. He rightly credits the textual scholarship of Anne Hudson with inspiring a large part of this revival, but curiously omits the highly influential contributions of the historians K.B. McFarlane and Margaret Aston.
The first chapter presents an interpretative model drawn from the field of philosophy to help explain the phenomenon of divergent doctrines within a single heretical sect: Ludwig Wittgenstein's theory of family resemblance. This theory holds that disparate phenomena categorized linguistically in single categories, but in fact possessing different characteristics can nonetheless be linked in complicated networks of overlapping and criss-crossing similarities, termed family resemblances--a theory that has also been applied to the taxonomy of the natural sciences. Under this scheme, rigid definitions of lollardy can be discarded, with some members of the group sharing many of the same beliefs, and others, at the margins, sharing fewer, but still belonging to the same family and situated within a "complex matrix of social, textual, and theological interactions" (14). A benefit of this flexible approach to defining lollardy (and, indeed, heretical doctrine) is that it allows the author to put forward his own theory that a heretical theology has more space to develop and evolve than a necessarily restrictive orthodox one, to which he returns in the book's conclusion.
Having set out this theoretical framework, chapter two begins the first of the author's five patient analyses of Lollard theologies, addressing predestinarianism, a doctrine famously attributed to Wyclif by his contemporary critics and post-Reformation historians alike. Hornbeck ably demonstrates, however, that Wyclif did not entirely endorse the notion that God had pre-ordained every individual's eternal fate, which was unaffected, therefore, by the way in which he lived his life. Rather, the Oxford don "leveraged the concept of hypothetical necessity to explain that God's omniscience and foreknowledge do not entail that all events are pre-determined" (33), thus allowing the possibility that the performance of good works could play a role in the salvific process. Nor, in fact, was the contemporary orthodox position on the question set in stone; many fourteenth-century theologians accepted some elements of the theoretical basis of predestinarian thought. Nevertheless, late medieval church and society were very much geared towards works- oriented schemes of salvation and laid great emphasis upon the efficacy of prayer, almsgiving, and masses to ease the soul's passage from purgatory to heaven. This social orientation, Hornbeck argues, was bound to influence the views not only of Wyclif's lay followers but even of some of his academic disciples. Although early Wycliffite writers mostly espoused a strict predestinarianism, some of their sermons, for example, put forward the view that men can be saved by their own merits. The slightly later Lanterne of Light (composed 1409 x 1415), while appropriating Wyclif's language about the congregation of the saved, invited its readers to examine the moral quality of their lives and ask for God's mercy. Trial suspects similarly offered a mixed bag of soteriological views. Whereas predestinarian views were expressed by many--especially leaders and teachers such as William White and Thomas Man--and echoes of Wyclif's predestinate language can sometimes be heard in the idiosyncratic utterings of others, later suspects in particular believed that virtuous living could affect their passage into heaven. It is surely no accident that this was the predominant view of the society around them, as Hornbeck rightly points out, but he is also correct to note that the psychological appeal of predestinarianism itself was (and is) limited: it is a hard truth to swallow that one's actions can have no bearing upon his place in the afterlife.
This same pattern of doctrinal evolution, from Wyclif to sixteenth- century heresy suspects, is replicated in varying degrees in the four subsequent chapters, and certainly in the next chapter on transubstantiation. Although later lollard eucharistic doctrine evolved into something quite different from the doctrine of remanence (or consubstantiation) as established by Wyclif, the seeds of this later development were planted in language found in his writings. Hornbeck spends some time sorting through the subtleties of Wyclif's remanence theology, the basic thrust of which was that the material substance of bread remained even after the consecration of the host. Wyclif asserted that Christ was present in the bread "virtually, spiritually, and sacramentally", though not substantially or corporeally (74), and although he was careful to disclaim the idea that the sacrament is merely a sign or figure of Christ, the complexity of his views later coalesced into two distinct, more simplified doctrines. Although a straightforward remanence theology was iterated by most early Wycliffite writers and heresy suspects, a figurative theology of the sacrament--anticipating the eucharistic theology of the Lutheran reformers--can be found in some sermons of the lollard sermon cycle, and most notably, in the later tract known as Wycklyffes Wycket. The latter view was also expressed by many early sixteenth-century heresy trials suspects, especially in the dioceses of Salisbury and Winchester, among whom the tract evidently circulated.
This developmental pattern is less discernible with the linked topics of lay marriage and clerical celibacy. That Wyclif himself did not put forward any distinctly radical ideas on these subjects perhaps explains why they have received little scholarly attention. It was in early Wycliffite writings and the testimony of lay heresy suspects that they found their expression, and here considerable divergence of opinion is evident. Yet, Wyclif did furnish the core basis for the evolution of these diverse sets of views: he objected to the church's institutional regulation of marriage, which he believed ought to be left to the individual consciences of the parties. He neither endorsed nor rejected the possibility of clerical marriage, but claimed that enforced celibacy was often the source of sexual vice, singling out the friars especially. It was Wycliffite tract writers who carried the argument further to the outright advocacy of clerical marriage, a view echoed by a number of heresy suspects--notably the married lollard priest William White and his followers. Many lay heresy suspects expressed variations on the view that marriage need not be solemnized in church, but was purely a matter of consent between the parties. As part of his social contextualization of these debates, Hornbeck is keen to dispel any notion of lollard libertinism and to deny that dissenting women achieved more equality in marriage than their contemporaries, endorsing Shannon McSheffrey's contention that the lollard sect generally reinforced the traditional roles of women in the home. McSheffrey's views are not as widely accepted as Hornbeck claims, however, nor does the point seem entirely relevant to these debates.
Chapter five, on the priesthood, asks whether dissenters envisioned the abolition of a separate priestly class with the exclusive right to celebrate the sacraments, and, conversely, to what extent they recognized the right of all believers to preach the gospel. Wyclif clearly advocated "the retention of a separate clerical estate whose members are distinguished from the laity on account of their uprightness of life and the grace they received from God" (152-3). On the other hand, he also used language that could be construed as asserting the right of all to preach, proclaiming that every Christian is a priest and must act as such when bishops ordain the unworthy. Wycliffite writers followed him in seeking to reform rather than abolish the priesthood, agreeing particularly on two points: that the clergy's primary duty was to preach the gospel and that the church should be disendowed of its wealth, with the clergy to be paid for its work by voluntary alms. A few notable writers asserted the right of lay men (and women) to preach, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, this assertion was made primarily by lay heresy suspects.
Finally, chapter six challenges the view that dissenters sought the abolition of the papal office, thereby preparing the ground for the acceptance of Henry VIII's break with Rome. Hornbeck maintains that Wyclif did not categorically reject the papacy, despite some ill- tempered polemical language, but saw papal power as having theological, constitutional and moral limitations. The pope was not the earthly head of the church but only a "captain" whose moral authority could be (and was) nullified by his own conduct. Wycliffite writers largely adopted the same Donatist view, with only a small minority envisioning the abolition of the papal office. Heresy suspects similarly criticized abuses and denied the moral authority of the papacy, but went no further. On this issue, therefore, Hornbeck found doctrinal continuity.
The general conclusion emphasizes divergences in doctrine rather than continuities, which is somewhat at odds with the overall impression gained from the individual chapters--at least in this reader's estimation--but not unexpected, given the signposting in the preface. Hornbeck stresses that these divergences ought not be seen as popularization or debasement of doctrine, but rather a natural evolution affected by and according with the social, cultural and other circumstances of the lives of these (mostly lay) adherents. This theme, indeed, emerges strongly from the approach and findings of this study, and could have been enhanced further by the injection of some social historical context, although one cannot criticize Hornbeck for restricting himself to his main subject of theology. Despite the omission of some important items from the bibliography, there are, commendably, very few errors of historical fact. That he makes John Badby (d. 1410) the first victim of the statute De heretico comburendo rather than William Sawtry (d. 1401), however, is something of a howler (95). Nevertheless, the potential is here to inform and inspire a more comprehensive approach to the study of lollardy that integrates history and theology.
The conclusion draws attention to two overall factors in the divergences of doctrine--geographical variation and influences from mainstream religious culture--and lists what Hornbeck considers to be the family resemblances of the lollards. That the list has been compiled from a study of five topics means that Hornbeck cannot provide a definitive answer to the question posed by the title, and he himself acknowledges that it is only a starting point. These qualifications notwithstanding, the book has much to recommend it to both students and more advanced researchers. It is exceedingly well written. Hornbeck has a wonderful gift for clarity of thought and expression, which is put to excellent use here in explaining difficult theological issues, and the book is blessedly free of jargon. It would serve as a fine introduction to the subject for undergraduates.